We are assessing the utility and feasibility of instrumenting Ziphius cavirostris off Cape Hatteras with fastloc capabale wildlife computer splash tags for the atlbrs.
We have deployed a total of 5 fastloc capable tags between 2018 and 2023. The first tag deployed in 2018 was programmed to only collect fastloc data and no dive data. The follow 4 tags were programmed to collect both time-series dive data and fastloc positions. Settings details can be found below.
Each fastloc data message consists of the data required to calculate a single fastloc position. As a comparison at 5-minute sampling period a single time-series data message spans 4 hours of recording. Therefore if we attempt to generate even hourly fastloc positions, our data queue for fastloc quickly surpasses the bandwidth requirements for dive data alone. Therefore it is unlikely even if we forego all other data streams that we would be able to densely sample the movement of an instrumented animals during the time scale of a single treatment event which last from 30 minutes to 1 hour and with a window of highest interest extending 24 hours past the conclusion of the treatment.
Therefore, there are two main questions regarding the use of fastloc tags in the atlbrs:
We used two tag programming configurations: (1) a fastloc only configuration, and (2) a time-series and fastloc configuration. Programming highlights:
| fastloc only configuration | fastloc and time-series configuration |
|---|---|
| fastloc: - 2/hr max successful fastloc attempts - 4/hr max failed fastloc attempts - 96/day overall max fastloc attempts - 0-23 fastloc attempt hours - unlimited collection period |
fastloc: - 1/hr max successful fastloc attempts - 4/hr max failed fastloc attempts - 40/day overall max fastloc attempts - 3-4, 9-10, 15-16, 21-22 fastloc attempt hours - 21 day collection period |
| argos tx: - 470 daily tx - 24 hours initial tx, then: - 0-3, 7-23 tx hours |
argos tx: - 470 daily tx - 24 hours initial tx, then: - 0-3, 8-11, 12-23 tx hours |
| time-series: - depth - 5-minute sampling peirod - 14 day collection period |
|
| buffer and tx priority: - 2 day data buffer - high priority fastloc |
buffer and tx priority: - 100 day data buffer - high priority time-series and fastloc |
ZcTag077_DUML
ZcTag143_DUML
ZcTag144_DUML
ZcTag145_DUML
ZcTag146_DUML
ZcTag077_DUML
| quality | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | A | B | gps | ndays |
| count | 55 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 92 | 179 | 23.7 |
| per day | 2.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 7.6 |
ZcTag143_DUML
| quality | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | A | B | gps | Z | ndays | ndays gps |
| count | 231 | 68 | 19 | 1 | 118 | 323 | 81 | 2 | 67.3 | 21 |
| per day | 3.4 | 1 | 0.3 | 0 | 1.8 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 0 |
ZcTag144_DUML
| quality | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | A | B | gps | ndays | ndays gps |
| count | 83 | 21 | 6 | 1 | 71 | 217 | 47 | 37.9 | 21 |
| per day | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0 | 1.9 | 5.7 | 2.2 |
ZcTag145_DUML
| quality | 0 | 1 | 2 | A | B | gps | ndays | ndays gps |
| count | 20 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 35 | 3 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| per day | 3.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 6.7 | 0.6 | 1 |
ZcTag146_DUML
| quality | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | A | B | gps | ndays | ndays gps |
| count | 363 | 113 | 33 | 10 | 117 | 307 | 65 | 68.8 | 21 |
| per day | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 3.1 |
PROVISIONAL plot status cutoffs and bat voltage. Cutoffs are in dotted red lines. These are either:
We have settled on a more complicated cutoff system to capture a little more very likely good data. For detail please see DATAPREP_sattag_processing. But this gives you a general idea of approx. cutoffs and pressure transducer health.
| deployid | mean0 | mean_gps | sd0 | sd_gps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZcTag077_DUML | 7.98 | 2.68 | 5.29 | 2.75 |
| ZcTag143_DUML | 10.69 | 6.39 | 10.99 | 6.96 |
| ZcTag144_DUML | 7.07 | 5.37 | 4.18 | 3.34 |
| ZcTag146_DUML | 7.68 | 5.64 | 4.34 | 4.43 |